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For those of us that enjoy the pure spectacle of bird migration at this time of the year, it's been one of the best autumns for many years.

For the birds themselves, it's been a mixed bag. For some, being drifted across the North Sea whilst on their way to southern Europe shortens the journey by cutting the corner from northern Europe to France and Spain.

For others that were forcibly blown out to sea, the winds and weather proved fatal. Those that successfully crossed the Atlantic are unlikely to make the journey back. However, there is some evidence to suggest that those that come from the Far East might be able to successfully over-winter in Africa and re-orientate the next spring.

Lapland bunting ©Dawn Balmer/BTO

Migration began in earnest quite early this year with the arrival of hundreds of in the Northern and Western Isles in the last week of August. Visible migration watchers pray for easterly winds during the autumn months in the hope that migrants will be drifted across the North Sea. This year their prayers were answered with long periods of easterly wind.

These brought some top-drawer rarities to our shores. The second for the UK was found freshly dead on Orkney, a long way from its normal wintering grounds in China, and Britain's fourth graced East Yorkshire. However, it was the supporting cast that was most impressive. , , and turned up in higher than average numbers and large falls of common migrants were experienced.

Huge arrival of robins, thrushes, , and , and finchesÌýwere seen at east coast watchpoints. The following entry on 27 September on the said it all:

Today was one of those days you wait years for, just the right weather at just the right time of year and an expectancy that it really was going to happen, and it did. There were good numbers of grounded migrants from first light but it was obvious many more birds were arriving as the day wore on, these included 115 dunnock, 1000+ robin, 86 redstart, 15 whinchat, 85 wheatear, 48 ring ouzel, 72 blackbird, 630 song thrush, 1200 redwing 107 goldcrest, 15 spotted flycatcher, 12 pied flycatcher, 110 chaffinch, 565 brambling, 206 siskin, 9 redpoll, 1 snow bunting, 8 Lapland bunting and 74 reed bunting.

Between the long bouts of easterly airflow the wind turned westerly and really blew, bringing North American birds with it. Britain's second alder flycatcher was found in Norfolk, two quickened pulses on the Western Isles as did two myrtle warblers in Ireland. Cornwall hosted a and an and a was found in the north-east.

Buff-breasted sandpiper © Ron Marshall/BTO

However, as far as North American birds go, this autumn will be remembered for the arrival of over 70 . These birds normally overfly most of North America on their way to Argentina and Paraguay from their breeding grounds in the Arctic and are a difficult species for most American birders to catch up with.

The huge movement of woodpigeons, over 400,000 were counted flying west over Poole, Dorset during the first half of November, pretty much brought migration to a close this year, although we could still experience some cold weather movements during the winter.

Now that most of our summer migrants have left and our winter visitors are here, what should we look out for over the winter period?

There are lots of winter spectacles to enjoy. Thousands of geese spend the winter here and a trip to Lady Anne's Drive, Holkham, Norfolk is not to be missed. Thousands of begin to arrive from mid-afternoon, whiffling their way out of the sky to feed in the fields adjacent to the drive. Slimbridge, Gloucestershire provides a similar spectacle with and there are more pink-feet to enjoy at Martin Mere in Lancashire, not forgetting the at Caerlaverock, on the Solway Firth.

Starling roosts will be in full swing, some of the largest are on Brighton Pier, West Sussex - Shapwick Heath, Somerset – Aberystwyth Pier, Ceredigion – and Gretna, Dumfries & Galloway. There will also be many smaller roosts in towns and cities across the country to enjoy.

During the afternoon at Stubb Mill, on the Norfolk Broads, begin to arrive prior to roosting on site. By dusk over fifty will have gathered, sometimes more, being joined by a small number of and the Broads' population of (around 30). A true spectacle!

Common crane ©Neil Calbrade/BTO

Let's not forget our garden birds. During prolonged periods of snow and ice our gardens provide a refuge for a wide variety of birds. Last winter lots of found shelter in our gardens, along with huge numbers of and .

On a final note, this is a waxwing winter here in the UK. Over 3,000 birds have already turned up. Arriving in the north-east waxwings move south and east in search of berries as they run out further north. Small flocks have already been seen in Hertfordshire and Kent, so this is one to look out for anywhere.